Patrick Caulfield

Alan Cristea Gallery, London, where acquired by the present owner in November 2003

Alan Cristea, Mel Gooding, and Kathleen Dempsey, Patrick Caulfield: The Complete Prints 1964-1999, Alan Cristea Gallery, London, 1998, cat. no.90, illustrated pp.79, 96 (another from the same edition).

The sheet is sound. The sheet undulates slightly along the vertical edges. Otherwise the work appears in excellent overall condition. Contained in a painted gilt and black bordered frame with a cream mount under glass; unexamined out of frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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'It seemed to me that Picasso had pulled the plug on interpreting the human form...'
The Artist interviewed by Bryan Robertson, quoted in Patrick Caulfield, exh.cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1999, p. 26.

In Les Demoiselles d'Avignon Vues de Derrière Caulfield pays homage to Pablo Picasso, the progenitor of Cubism whose formal innovations and investigations of pictorial space so profoundly inspired the younger artist's own aesthetic. With characteristic visual wit, Caulfield rephrases Picasso's 1907 painting of Spanish prostitutes, a work which marked the beginning of Cubism and which is considered by many today to be the very cornerstone of Modernism. In Caulfield's version, however, he reverses Picasso's image so that instead of viewing the women frontally, we peer at them from behind. Caulfield's unorthodox modification of his source is both a visual pun on the printing process - which reverses the original design - and a verbal pun on the French word derrière, which means rear end. Beyond this playful contrariness which is essential to the artist's spirit, Caulfield's composition packs a conceptual punch as the unexpected viewpoint of such a well known image forces us to reconsider the very act of looking at art.